Tomarctus

Tomarctus; Temporal range: early to middle Miocene
	Tomarctus skull
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Carnivora
Family:	Canidae
Subfamily:	†Borophaginae
Genus:	†Tomarctus; Cope, 1873
Type species
	†Tomarctus brevirostris;
Species
	†T. brevirostris; †T. hippophaga ;

Tomarctus ("cutting bear") is an extinct canid, and more specifically a member of the subfamily Borophaginae which inhabited most of North America during the late Early Miocene subepoch (23 Mya) to the Early Barstovian age of the Middle Miocene subepoch (16 Mya). Tomarctus existed for approximately 7.3 million years.

Tomarctus is derived from the Nothocyon and gave rise to Borophaginae, a short-face, heavy-jawed canine usually massive in size. Tomarctus shared its period of time with a variety of bear dogs like the giant mustelid genus of bone-crushing canidae, Cynarctoides. As the bear dogs and giant mustelids became extinct, Tomarctus further radiated to fill a line of dogs which filled the fruit eating and bone-crushing hyena-like, large bone-crushing niches.

Species

Species within Tomarctus are Tomarctus brevirostris and Tomarctus hippophaga.

Sister genus

A sister genus, Aelurodontina was originally named Aelurodon by Joseph Leidy in 1858. Leidy placed it within Canidae and J. A. Baskin in 1980 and R.L. Carroll in 1988. The genus was renamed Aelurodontina in 1999 by Xiaoming Wang.

References

^ Wang, Xiaoming (1999-11-17). "Phylogenetic systematics of the Borophaginae" (PDF). Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History. 243. Retrieved 2007-07-08. {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)

Martin, L.D. 1989. Fossil history of the terrestrial carnivora. Pages 536 - 568 in J.L. Gittleman, editor. Carnivore Behavior, Ecology, and Evolution, Vol. 1. Comstock Publishing Associates: Ithaca.
Tedford, R.H. 1978. History of dogs and cats: A view from the fossil record. Pages 1 - 10 in Nutrition and Management of Dogs and Cats. Ralston Purina Co.: St. Louis.
- Bio One Data Base - Tomarctus

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[1] Wang, Xiaoming (1999-11-17). "Phylogenetic systematics of the Borophaginae" (PDF). Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History. 243. Retrieved 2007-07-08. {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)

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